Lower than vermin

June 26th, 2007 admin

Nothing cheers up a Labour party member more than watching the Tories ripping themselves to shreds. The Conservative Party were responsible for untold suffering for millions of working people in the 1980s: mass unemployment, the ravaging of manufacturing and mining communities and an explosion in poverty among other things.

Precisely because of our burning hatred for the Tories and everything they stand for, we should all be concerned at the fact that Brown is welcoming a homophobic, pro-fox hunting Tory into the Labour party.

Quentin Davies' defection and lavishing of praise upon Gordon Brown poses some very serious questions for those who still harbour illusions in New Labour's co-founder.

Perhaps it'd be helpful to give a bit of background to a politician who, just a few days ago, was presumably happy describing himself as a Conservative and has now joined a self-described "democratic socialist" party.

Firstly, he's an ardent and unrepentant Thatcherite. In 2001, for example, Quentin was happily praising Thatcher for "turning round" the country in the 1980s. Indeed, the Baroness "takes second place to no one in [his] admiration for her historic achievements."

Secondly, he's a raging reactionary. As well as his dislike of gays and his fondness for hunting foxes, good old Quentin

Thirdly, he hates trade unions. Plummy mouthed Quentin once rejoiced in the fact "that the most highly unionised industries have disappeared or declined, while the less unionised have thrived and expanded..."
This is the same man who today says that he has "always greatly admired" Gordon Brown, adding that he is "entirely straighforward, and who has a towering record, and a clear vision for the future of our country which I fully share."

There can be no greater indictment than that of Labour's unelected leader.

Furthermore, one of his main reasons for defecting appears to be that he believes New Labour has a firmer position on Iraq.

Nye Bevan once famously said of the Tories: "That is why no amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party that inflicted those bitter experiences on me. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin."

Spot on, Nye. I joined the Labour Party to fight the Tories - not to welcome them into our ranks.

UPDATE: Brown has just sent this statement to Labour MPs:

"Quentin Davies is a senior parliamentarian and he commands respect on all sides for his expertise and his dedication to public service, and I welcome him to the New Labour party.

"On Sunday, I said I was determined to reach out to those who share our values and who would like to be part of building a more just society.

"I said we had to reach out to people who want to change from the old politics, who yearn for a public life founded on principles, who are inspired by what we as a nation can achieve together - and asked them to join us. I am delighted that Quentin Davies has done so today."

Would that be a public life founded on homophobic, union-hating, Thatcherite principles? And does anyone remember joining the New Labour party?

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We told you so

June 25th, 2007 admin

I have never ceased to be amazed that, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, so many sensible, rational people have for so long bought into the illusion that Gordon Brown will be somehow more progressive than Tony Blair. Even today, Cruddasite Tom Miller - who I have a lot of time for - has suggested that "almost all of our platform will now be implemented by Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman" (I'll patiently wait for Gordie's renationalisation of the railways, disarmament of Trident, end of privatisation and apology for the Iraq war, then...)

Today, the leader of the Parliamentary Labour Party has rewarded the failure of the trade union leaderships to openly back a candidate who actually backs their policies by pledging to further diminish the union role within the party. Despite publicly declaring his intention to increase party democracy, Brown has unveiled plans to end the ability of unions to submit motions to party Conference - and effectively strip Conference of its role as the party's sovereign policy-making body. Instead, party members will be treated to a "like it or lump it" plebiscite over the final manifesto.

This comes only a few days after Brown attempted to invite Lib Dems and even unelected Tory supporters into the government. Not bad for someone who's been leader for less than 24 hours, eh?

Now - tempting as it is to sit around and whinge about it - it's crucial that party members and trade unionists start planning decisive action to fight, fight and fight again to save the party we love. John McDonnell has today announced his intentions to launch a campaign to defend trade union rights in the party. I hope that's an initiative we can all unite behind.

Unfortunately, Brown's past political record suggests that this is only the tip of the iceberg. After all, it was Brown who introduced the disastrous PPP into the London Underground. Brown is the architect of New Labour's privatisation programme, investing £26bn in PFI in the 2006 budget alone. Brown has waged New Labour's war against public sector workers, sacking 104,000 civil servants in July 2004 and imposing a three-year pay freeze last June. Brown has supported all of New Labour's policies since 1997 - from the invasion of Iraq to Foundation Hospitals. In the one major policy dispute between Blair and Brown - over pensions - Brown opposed Blair from the right. Brown has suggested lifting the cap on top-up fees (which, if lifted, will open the floodgates to an internal market in higher education) and re-introducing de facto internment.

In the past, Brown has showed himself more than willing to appeal to jingoist sentiments. As well as floating some sort of flag-waving 'British day', last June he publicly declared that "people who come into this country, who are part of our community, should play by the rules. I think learning English is part of that… I would insist on large numbers of people who have refused to learn our language that they must do so." Last year, he echoed Thatcher's call for a "property-owning democracy" when he declared his vision to "build a home-owning, asset-owning democracy." No wonder the Washington Post said to him bluntly last year: "You don't sound like the socialist you are portrayed to be. His response was clear: "I'm a free trader. I'm pro-open markets," adding that "the economy that I admire most is the American economy." Indeed, Brown has repeatedly called upon Europe to "adjust its social model to combine flexibility with fairness" - through "wholesale economic reform" (i.e. some good old-fashioned Thatcherism). As John McDonnell has pointed out, little wonder that Brown ordered Blair to stand firm against arch-neo liberal Sarkozy's alleged attempts to dilute references to the free market in the new EU treaty.

When Brown pledged to run a "Blairite administration", he meant it. Today, the PLP's leader has promised to take on the Labour party. The question is - do we roll over, or do we fight back?

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They don’t call it ‘the struggle’ for nothing…

June 24th, 2007 admin

For those on the left of the Labour party - or indeed for those thousands of party members and trade unionists who simply wanted a democratic contest for the leadership of their party - Sunday was full of bitter reminders. Gordon Brown stood before us as the unelected leader of the Labour party, humbly thanking a disenfranchised electorate for placing their trust in him, unopposed and unchallenged over issues such as Iraq, privatisation and trade union rights.

Denied a say over who leads us, we were instead stuck with a surrogate contest over what is, effectively, a non-job fought over by six candidates who largely share nearly identical political records. Unsurprisingly, apathy proved to be the big winner: nearly half the remaining rump of the party and 92% of affiliated trade unionists didn't even bother to vote.

But there is reason to take heart. In order to win this election, Harriet Harman was forced to posture to the left on a whole range of issues - not least Iraq, trade union rights, housing and inequality. Jon Cruddas went for the same political territory and was rewarded by topping the first round and coming third overall. Including poor old Peter Hain, candidates who at least postured to the left received a majority of the votes cast; and that's not including those who voted for Hilary Benn because of his dad. Hazel Blears - who shamelessly parrotted the Blairite mantra with a permanently fixed grin - was soundly humiliated.

It's no surprise that politicians who have loyally towed the New Labour line for so many years have been forced to resort to leftish sounding rhetoric. The labour movement has been steadily - if cautiously - moving to the left for a while now. Trade union general secretaries have had to at least pose to the left in order to be elected, regardless of how they subsequently behaved. Despite the collapse of Labour party membership over issues such as Iraq and privatisation, even the rump of the party has moved to the left: with members voting for 4 leftwingers to the 6 constituency places on the NEC last August. A YouGov poll earlier this month revealed large majorities of party members and trade unionists support progressive policies - including distancing Britain from Bush's Middle East policies, increasing taxes on the rich, reversing Blairite "reforms" in public services, renationalising the railways, ending the war in Iraq and disarming Trident.

It's little wonder that the Brown machine went out of its way to prevent John McDonnell getting a place on the ballot paper after his impressive performance at the May Fabian Society debate with New Labour's co-founder (I'll reveal the full story behind the Brown shenanigans in due course...) Despite sparse media coverage, a low profile and an absence of a contest, nearly a fifth of party members and over a quarter of trade unionists were planning to vote for him: we can only guess at the level this would have reached if McDonnell had not been deprived of a place on the ballot paper. Nonetheless, the John4Leader campaign achieved a considerable amount: it mobilised the left for the first time in years, it re-energised activists who had lost since dropped out of activity, it recruited thousands of socialists into the party, it linked together activists right across the labour movement, and it put left politics back on the agenda. It was a good dress rehearsal.

Little wonder that the right are getting nervous. The notorious Luke Akehurst - as good an indicator of the right's thinking as any - has openly fretted that, unless the leftward shift in the unions is reversed, "we'll end up in a decade's time with Brown's successor in a contested election being from the left." What was unthinkable just a few years ago has now become entirely possible.

Over the coming months and years, the Labour left faces a number of challenges. Like the marginalised Labour left of the 1960s, for too long we've become defined by what we oppose and resorted to empty sloganising. It's time to develop our own coherent programme based on an analysis of the world as it is today. That means asking tricky questions. How do we respond to the atomisation of the working class caused by the rise of a fragmented, largely unorganised high-and-fire low-wage service sector? What's our answer to the globalisation of capital and the accompanying "race to the bottom"? What do we think about issues we've left to other people for too long - like the work-life balance or global warming, for example? John McDonnell has already started this process with his 'Another World Is Possible' manifesto: let's build on that work.

For too long we've allowed ourselves to be painted as dinosaurs by politicians who draw their inspiration from 19th century laissez-faire liberal economics. We've even let them steal our terminology: reform has come to mean privatising and cutting, for example. We're the real modernisers and it's time to say so. We don't want a throwback to Old Labour: for example, we should reject old-style Morrisonian bureaucratic nationalisation in favour of democratic common ownership by workers and consumers. Let's stop being reactive and go on the ideological offensive.

Above all, we need to create a grassroots movement. The John4Leader campaign established networks of party and union activists right across the country: let's build on that. And yes, as much as it goes against our proudly bottom-up culture, we need to get socialists elected as Labour MPs.

As much as recent events feel like repeated slaps in the face, it's not all doom and gloom. We've got a lot to build on. Let's make sure that we can look back at Brown's coronation not as the death of the Labour left - but as the funeral of armchair socialism.

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Harriet Deputy Leader, Jon deserves credit

June 24th, 2007 admin

I wonder if the newsnight statement by John that if I had to be somebodyelse for the deputy leadership it would have to be Harriet. Anyway Jon you have done the Unite union and the wider union memebsrhip proud. Well Done!

It was very close in the end Jon managed of 30% of the vote!

Who said the cnetre-left and left were dead!!

Harriet well done!

John Wiseman

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Unite conference a success

June 22nd, 2007 admin

This was the best conference I have been to. The union has never seen such a progressive agenda being put through with united support. There waas much for the left to be happy with. The visitors from the USW were excellent together with the speeches of Tony & Derek. Jon Cruddas was excellent at the union party!! The union marches forward on a progressive agenda.

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